


The Charming Quality of the Elite

by of_books_and_needles



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Different Planets, Gen, Mysterious Characters, Selection AU, Supernatural Elements, only one chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 20:04:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10446309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/of_books_and_needles/pseuds/of_books_and_needles
Summary: Alexander Hamilton didn't think a competition would be the way to get off the island, but he'd give it a shot anyway.





	

The room was cold. Apparently the palace guest rooms were not air conditioned. The temperature was a stark contrast to Alexander Hamilton’s native planet of Nevis with its tropical heat and plants. This planet, Vernon, had no real trees according to his guidebook and instead had forests of faux grass and trees that came in all colors of the rainbow. It was too bad that the expanding sun had caused all the greens to die on the planets closer to the sun. The natives were happy, though. The villages he passed through welcomed him as if he’d already won. He supposed that he had won in a way. He’d beaten the odds in all possible ways in his short life.

It seemed like everyone in the villages knew who he was. At first, Alex found it surprising because his home planet was a forgotten, deserted place but his companion soon explained everything. Well, companion wasn’t the right word. Ned Stevens was more of a guide than a friend or helper. They had been friends back in Nevis before Ned left to serve the king on planet Vernon. The king had to get someone to bring Alex here and thought that a friendly face would be best.

Speaking of the king, Alex wasn’t quite sure what to think about him. George Washington was a name familiar throughout the galaxy with the details of his contest reaching even the deepest depths of the stars. He was considered to be one of the best rulers with his kingdom being the most prosperous in the galaxy. Alone, his military work had put Vernon on the map as the most powerful planet.

Anyway, a few weeks before, Alex had seen a notice on the only standing lamp post that wasn’t knocked over by the hurricane that decimated the planet leaving him the only survivor in his village. The lamp post was covered in yellow flyers the majority being missing people posters. The contest flyer was the royal color of purple and the adhesive used to paste it down was still fresh.

It was an advertisement for a royal competition to become King Washington’s political advisor. The previous advisor had died suddenly without naming a successor and the news of her passing had caused an uproar among all the planets. It was common knowledge that Washington would be having a contest to find his next advisor and everyone in Nevis wanted a shot at the job. 

Everyone in the galaxy was hoping that the king would begin accepting competitors for the job soon and updates on the contest dominated the news. So much so that no one predicted the hurricane’s coming and the lack of preparation killed everyone, making it so that Alex was probably the only one still eligible in Nevis. 

The flyer had stated the guidelines to enter the contest and Alex was glad to see that they were all manageable. The only thing that might cause some trouble was the third guideline. It said to send in an example of your talent. He wasn’t exactly sure what to do for that. Alex knew that there were people in the galaxy with supernatural abilities, but he wasn’t one of them. No one in his village had any magic and anyone found even speaking of it was looked down on.

He had decided just to write a pamphlet explaining his expertise and political ability for the job and had it sent to Vernon on the supply ship that came every 3 weeks. Within a week of mailing in his application, a royal ship arrived with the familiar face of Ned Stevens, his old friend. 

Ned lead him onto a spaceship destined for Vernon and besides the ship catching on fire at one point, Alex arrived without a hitch. The weird part of the trip was walking through the village since many people asked to take pictures with him seeing as he could potentially be the next personal advisor. 

Once they had made it to the castle, Alex was immediately whisked away to a freezing guest bedroom without any explanation as to what comes next.

So that’s where he was now. Locked in a cold palace room with nothing to do. They hadn’t even let him keep his suitcases for safety reasons. Apparently the royal guards had learned from past experience not to let them keep their stuff. The Benedict Arnold incident was the first to come to mind.

Alex had no way of knowing how much time had passed other than watching the sun go down in the window. The sun had been high in the sky when he arrived, but now the sun was setting in a beautiful display of pink and green.

It was now that someone knocked on his door and unlocked it. Alex could hear the sound of the key turning in the lock. He had known that there were people outside standing watch as he heard the sound of pacing every now and then. Two people opened the door. One was a royal guard in a uniform similar to the ones he saw as he walked into the castle. The other was Ned Stevens, his guide from earlier. 

“Hello.” Ned said with a warm smile. “I’m sure you’re hungry and bored but I promise that things will start happening soon. We just wanted to check in on you, make sure everything’s okay.”

Alex saw that his clothes were singed and looked at them with a questioning glance. Ned noticed the glance and gave a nervous chuckle.

“Another contestant had a slight issue with the curtains in his room, it’s not a problem. You’ll meet him and the others in a few minutes.”

“Good to know.” Alex was at a loss for words for once in his life. He’d never been in a new environment like this before and throughout the entire trip, he’d been trying to find his words again.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to this eventually. Just focus on the task at hand. First, all of you will attend dinner together, kind of get to know each other without the presence of the king. Then, you’ll get dressed for a ball. A sort of formal introduction to the king in the presence of his court. It’s not too big of a deal, nothing you do or say is unerasable. They know how nervous you all are and the actual judging won’t begin until tomorrow.”

Alex cleared his throat. “What’s happening tomorrow?”

“The first trial will commence. That’s all I can say for now, but they’ll explain everything over dinner. I’ll be back in a few minutes to fetch you. I’ve got to inform some more contestants about the dinner. Here, let me unlock the rest of the doors. Can you bring in his clothes?”

The question was directed to the guard outside the door. Alex had almost forgotten about him. Ned walked over to some doors in the corner. Turns out there was a bathroom in the room and Ned left to give Alex some privacy. 

The clothes were laid out on the bed and he was glad to see that it wasn’t anything too intense. Just a pair of black dress pants and a white button up. While, it was very different from anything anyone wore back in Nevis, Alex was relieved that it wasn’t some royal costume that would make him look stupid because he was not stupid.

Since the outfit wasn’t bad, Alex got dressed. He didn’t bother showering and instead, just ran some warm water through his hair and put it up in his trademark bun. Alex looked at himself one last time in the mirror. No matter what Ned had said, Alex knew that the dinner was very important for the future of the competition.

This event would mark the beginning of the mysterious contest that which could change his life and future. Alex had no idea who he would be up against nor the kinds of people they were. The contest notices had been posted on almost every planet meaning that there would certainly be a variety of people here.

Before he knew it, Ned had arrived again. It had only been about 10 minutes since he left so Alex deduced that there probably weren’t too many other people to compete against. 

“Ready to go? I trust you had no issues with your clothing options.” Ned said with smile.

“None at all. How many other people are here?” 

“Counting you, there are 10. Not as many as the previous times but it’s still a fair amount. They make up for the lack of people with who these people are.”

“Oh. That’s less than I thought there’d be.” Alex said pretending that he didn’t care who these people were.

“They’re all very interesting people.” Ned said seeing through the facade. “We’d best be going now.”

And with that, the two of them left Alex’s room flanked by the guard who had brought in his clothes. 

Alex and Ned walked through a long hallway and up two flights of stairs before finally reaching a sitting room. The room had two L-shaped couches that met in the center of the room to form a rectangle with an opening at the top. On the couches were three people sitting a respectable distance away from each other and another three sitting so close they were practically squishing the one in the middle.

They all turned to look at him and the three girls actually smiled. 

“Well, I’ll let you all get acquainted while I bring in the next person. You good, Laf?”

He directed this to a guy sitting on the edge of the sofa who blushed. 

“Oui, monsieur. I hope your clothes aren’t too ruined.” The man, who Alex assumed was Lafayette, said with a wink. 

“Oh, yeah, it’s absolutely fine.” Ned said, visibly flustered.

“Good.” Lafayette had a distinct french accent that seemed to add to his charm. Though his words were flirtatious, there was a noticeable fire in his eyes. Alex automatically liked him.

“Yeah.” For a moment, Ned seemed mesmerized.Then he shook his head as if to clear the fog. “Anyway, this is Alexander Hamilton. Play nice. I’ll be back with the next person soon.” He then left the room with the bodyguard.

Alex was surprised to see no guards in the room.

“Don’t worry. There are no cameras or guards listening in. I’m Angelica Schuyler and yes I did just read your mind. I can read everyone’s mind.” No one else seemed shocked by this revelation so Alex tried to keep his countenance calm.

Angelica smirked at the thought. “You can act surprised, I know you’ve never met someone with powers before. You’ve never even entertained the thought of meeting anyone with special abilities.”

Alex kept silent. The air was tense yet passionate around the two of them. Like they were the only ones in the room. Just him looking into her eyes and she reading his mind. And he gave her his consent. Even helped guide her through the memories. This was the feeling of meeting his equal in every aspect. Mentally and emotionally. He snuck a look at the others in the room and saw that none of them thought this scene was too strange. 

In fact, the two girls beside her were giving him friendly smiles which were welcoming compared to Angelica’s growing smirk. 

“Well, well, well. Alexander Hamilton.” She said sitting back and crossing her arms. “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. What took you so long?” Angelica went as far back into his memories as she wanted to go and came back into the present. “My intellectual equal. Wow. I really didn’t expect to meet you as easily as this. There must be a catch.”

Alex hadn’t noticed that she’d slowly been moving towards him and realized with a start that she was right in front of him now. He saw that they were all waiting for him to speak and he cleared his throat looking for the words to say. However, he felt that he could be himself around these people. Alex finally spoke matching the lighthearted and teasing tone of Angelica’s.

“I wasn’t aware that I was awaiting your presence but in front of you now, I wonder how I could’ve lived without you all these years.” 

Angelica’s grin grew impossibly wider as her expectations of him came true. Alex could feel her interest in him and knew immediately that she would be a very good friend. 

Angelica straightened up and lead him to the other people on the couch. 

“I’m about to change your life. These are the people who will determine your future. Please keep all questions, comments, and concerns for the very end.” She said this like a tour guide and directed it to the whole audience. Angelica pointed to the two girls previously sitting next to her.

“These are my sisters. Eliza and Peggy.”

Eliza gave a wave and Peggy gave him a peace sign with her hands.   
“Peggy can see the most likely future for people and Eliza can see the ties between them.”

“Basically, I can tell how people are related to one another and I know the names of the people who will matter most in their lives.” Eliza explained this in a way that showed she had explained this many times.

“And I can see all of your futures. I can’t change them or anything, but I can warn you of the bad things before they happen.” Peggy said with a shrug and a smile.

“Like I said, I’m Angelica. Together we’re the Schuyler sisters from the planet Schuyler. I speak for all three of us when I say we’re very happy to meet you.”

The Schuyler sisters left a very interesting impression on him, especially Angelica. If Lafayette was charming, Angelica was mesmerizing. Eliza’s friendly smile left a warm feeling in his heart that spread throughout his body. Peggy’s brief explanation was sweet and showed her young heart. 

That left only three others not yet introduced. A guy with curly brown hair pulled back in a bun and a smattering of freckles stood up.

“Anyway, if Angelica hasn’t stolen all the thunder, I’m John Laurens. I can control things with my mind. I think that’s clear enough.” His informal introduction quickly broke the ice and mirage left by the sisters’ and Alex was grateful to him for that. At least until he smiled and the sun came streaming into Alex’s heart. 

Seeing John’s smile was like seeing the first rays of sun bursting through the clouds after the hurricane. Like the first feeling of hope after seeing the purple contest notice on the lamp post in Nevis. It was pure happiness.

Alex was once again left speechless and was glad to see that Laurens was also at a loss of words.

“Hi.” Alex said shyly. Eliza cooed from behind him.

“Hey.” John said with that dazzling smile.

“I swear you’ve managed to make everyone fall in love with you already. And I should know.” Angelica said already acting like they’ve been friends for years.

John sat back down and Lafayette took his place.

“I’m Lafayette. I can control fire and create it out of nothing. I also have the power of charm from the planet France and I’ve taught it to a few people in this very room in fact.”

“Contrary to popular belief, Angelica is not naturally this charming.” Peggy said with a wink at Alex.

“Peggy, don’t go sharing my secrets.” Angelica scolded.

Then it clicked in Alex’s mind. “So you’re one who had trouble with the curtains. That’s why Ned asked you if you were ok. You caught them on fire and singed his clothes.”

Amused looks were cast in his direction and Lafayette only nodded sheepishly.

“And I’m Hercules Mulligan.” This was from a tall, muscular man with a bandana wrapped around his head. He was amazingly intimidating, but he had a kind look in his eyes.

“I can create almost anything out of yarn or thread. I always keep a feel spools on me at all times.” And he pulled out three balls of yarn seemingly out of nowhere.

“Now that we’re all acquainted, do you have any questions? Ned and the guards will be back in a few minutes with the next person so you might want to ask them now.” Angelica said pointingly.

Millions of questions popped into his mind and he blurted out the first one.

“Can you always read my mind? Why do you ask me questions if you can find the answer yourself?” He didn’t say this in a mean way, just matter of factly. And if Angelica was offended by this question, she didn’t show it.

“Well, first of all, yes I always can read your mind. I, however, don’t always want to so I can control my power and stop reading anyone’s mind at any minute. The power to stop is a perk not everybody with this power has. And I ask you questions anyway to keep up appearances and just to be polite. I don’t necessarily like digging around people’s brains but sometimes it’s needed. Next question?”

Alex was relieved to hear that she doesn’t always read minds and relaxed a bit.

“Um, I think that’s all the questions I have for now.”

“Awesome.” Laurens said. “Ned will be back soon, but you can chill for now. You can sit by me if you want.”

“Oh, thanks.” And Alex moved to sit in between John and Eliza.

“Yes, please get settled. I know this is all a bit overwhelming but you’ll get used to it eventually. Angie might have been a bit over friendly, but I promise she doesn’t bite.” Eliza said this in a maternal protective way and Alex was moved by her kind words.

Angelica gave a toothy grin at this and pretended to bite Peggy, who moved to avoid her teeth. Alex made small talk with the boys and soon felt comfortable enough to speak his mind around these people. It turned out that they all knew each other prior to the contest and some of them had even grown up together. It felt like he was intruding upon a close knit family but instead of feeling left out, they welcomed him with open arms.

It wasn’t long before Ned came back with another contestant. He was very quiet and would only tell people his name. 

“James Madison.” The boy said timidly. 

“Hi, James. I’m Elizabeth Schuyler but you can call me Eliza.” She said this in a very friendly almost protective way. 

Alex could already tell that Eliza was the kindest person he’d ever met. And Angelica smiled at him when he thought that and moved over to whisper in his ear.

“You’re not wrong.” She said in her charming way.

James refused to say any more than his name and Alex understood that. He invited Madison to sit next to him and Eliza on the couch. They all went around and introduced themselves again and conversation resumed.

Ned returned and brought with him the most flamboyantly dressed man Alex had ever seen. He was wearing a magenta colored coat and did a sort of jazz dance step as he walked in. Alex immediately didn’t like him. Madison, however, perked up as soon as he walked in.

“Thomas Jefferson. From Virginia, Monticello colony if you’ve ever heard of it.” And he smiled that confident smirk that was not nearly as nice looking as John’s was. 

“Thomas, what are you doing here? I thought you were still in France.” Madison said a lot louder than before.

Jefferson’s swagger deflated at the sound of Madison’s voice. He seemed to get more sincere and real when he looked at Madison.

“Thomas, I haven’t seen you in so long. It’s good to see your face.” This was from Lafayette. Apparently they were old friends.

“First, I’m here to win the contest unlike the rest of you. I left France when I was accepted as a contestant. And Laf, I’m very glad to see you too.”

Alex felt his scowl grow when he heard that Laf and Jefferson were friends. How could he be friends with a confidant prick like him?

“Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton.” He stood up to look Jefferson in the eyes ignoring John trying to pull him back down. 

Eliza and Angelica also stood up and Peggy didn’t bother. She already knew how things were going to go down. 

“I’ve never heard of you before, Hamilton. Should I know who you are?”

“Not yet, but you’ll know my name when I win this contest.”

“So confidant.” 

“Alas I admit it.”

“You must’ve been quite the star back on your planet.”

The two of them kept moving into each other’s faces until John finally stood up and pulled him back. Angelica was calmly watching this play out not willing to step in until things got messy and Eliza was nervously watching debating whether or not to stop it. 

“It’s not worth the fight. He’s just trying to get you riled up.” John said as if he’s been in this position before.

“He’s right.” Said Eliza. “You two are natural enemies according to your heart ties.”

Alex didn’t doubt it. They dropped the conversation and Jefferson and Alex silently glared at each other. 

Ned came back with the last contestant. It was a man named Aaron Burr. Burr was a quiet like Madison but in a different way. While Madison was quiet in a timid, shy way, Burr was quiet in a cunning, sneaky, way. Like he was judging your personality before showing a certain side of him. It was unsettling but Burr didn’t seem like a bad guy. And though, Angelica had a rocky history with him, it was all in good humor.

Burr, like Madison and Jefferson, had also refused to reveal his power, but Alex didn’t really care. He had no powers so maybe Burr didn’t have any either.

Either way, Alex was beginning to see the contest as something happening in this moment rather than something to worry about in the distant future and when Ned came in to bring all of them to dinner, Alex felt that the competition had finally begun.


End file.
